Rousey enjoyed sweet serenade during championship celebration

Ronda Rousey, front, has a long and impressive resume, including a judo bronze at the 2008 Olympic Games.Getty Images Files
/ Special to The Province

(Rowdy) Ronda Rousey shows off her UFC bantamweight championship belt, on Dec. 6, 2012 in Seattle. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Neil Davidson

(Rowdy) Ronda Rousey shows off her UFC bantamweight championship belt, on Thursday Dec. 6, 2012. UFC president Dana White handed out the belt Thursday, saying the former Strikeforce title-holder will make her UFC debut on Feb., 23 against Liz Carmouche. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Neil Davidson
/ Canada.com

(Rowdy) Ronda Rousey proudly shows off her UFC bantamweight championship belt. Rousey will make her UFC debut on Feb. 23 against Liz Carmouche in the headline match.The Canadian Press
/ Special to The Province

Sarah Kaufman of Victoria, B.C., celebrates after defeating Roxanne Modafferi in the third round of a Strikeforce Challengers event in Everett, WA, on July 23, 2010. Kaufman will look to reclaim her Strikeforce bantamweight title from champion (Rowdy) Ronda Rousey on Aug. 18 in San Diego. THE CANADIAN PRESS/ Strikeforce - Esther Lin

Strikeforce, the sister promotion of Ultimate Fighting Championship, returns to the airwaves on Saturday (SuperChannel in Canada; Showtime in the U.S.), where in the main event undefeated women’s bantamweight champ Ronda Rousey takes on former champion and Victoria. B.C. native Sarah Kaufman. Taking a break from her fight-week preparations in San Diego, Rousey went 1-on-1 with Postmedia MMA reporter Dave Deibert, discussing her Canadian-ness, an awkward fan encounter, and a cellphone cautionary tale ...

POSTMEDIA: What did you do with the Strikeforce title belt the night you won it?

ROUSEY: I don’t know what I did the first night. I know a few nights after that, we took it out to karaoke (laughs). A couple friends put the belt on, and were singing Blondie and other songs. I let my friends wear it, singing karaoke to me.

POSTMEDIA: So, what’s your go-to karaoke song?

ROUSEY: I’ve never really sung karaoke publicly. I’ve done the Japanese karaoke, in the private rooms. If I had to pick a song, I’d could do, like, ’Take Me Home Tonight’ because that’s the one I can really belt out in my car. I can hit those notes.

POSTMEDIA: You spent several years in your youth living in North Dakota, which is as close to being Canadian as Americans can be …

ROUSEY: I used to live in Montreal, too, for a while, actually. It was at Vanier College. I didn’t go there but I stayed in the dorms. I had a friend that went there and they had cheap rent.

POSTMEDIA: Wow. And you’re fighting a proud Canadian this weekend. So I want to test your Canadian-ness. True or false: Canada would like the U.S. to keep Nickelback and Celine Dion.

ROUSEY: (Laughs) Yes.

POSTMEDIA: Tim Hortons was a Toronto Maple Leafs legend before he was a coffee Mecca.

ROUSEY: I don’t know. I just know that his coffee is everywhere. I know it’s, like, the Canadian Dunkin’ Donuts or whatever.

POSTMEDIA: So, true or false?

ROUSEY: True. Why not.

POSTMEDIA: Good job. True or false: the loonie and toonie are actually forms of currency in Canada?

ROUSEY: Yes. The loonie is the $1 coin and the toonie is the $2 coin.

POSTMEDIA: Well done. How many calls did you get on your old cellphone before you realized the number used to belong to a prostitute?

ROUSEY: Actually, it was the first call I got. They were voice mails, like, ‘Hello, Laura. I got your number off massagenow.com.’ It was actually listed on massagenow.com, under the name ‘Laura’, with a picture. I had plenty of people inquiring. The thing that sucked was it was a pay-as-you-go phone, so if I wanted to stop and mess with the pervert that was calling me, it was actually costing me money. I was already broke so I’d just get pissed off every time I picked up the phone and some prevo was, like, ‘Hey Laura … ’ I was like, ‘(Expletive), I just paid $4. You just cost me money.’ I was paying to get harassed by perverts for a while.

POSTMEDIA: You were recently in In Touch Magazine. You hosted TMZ. How much of a gossip fiend are you?

ROUSEY: I’m not a gossip fiend at all. I haven’t even had a TV until recently, when we plugged it in to watch fights. Before I went on TMZ, me and my friend, Wetzel, who actually reads Dlisted and Perez Hilton and all that stuff, we had to do research. I didn’t know at all what was going on in pop culture.

POSTMEDIA: You’re famously an Olympic medallist in judo. What other Olympic sport would love to be awesome at?

ROUSEY: Boxing is kind of obvious. Striking is very interesting and new to me. I used to think diving was lame until I roomed with a diver last time around. I thought, ‘That’s kind of awesome.’ They seriously jump from several stories up and when they go in the water they don’t even splash … I thought that was really cool. And it really doesn’t seem as strenuous. It would just be like falling all the time (laughs).

POSTMEDIA: Be honest: How many copies of ESPN The Magazine’s Body Issue with you on the cover did you run out and buy the first day they were on sale?

ROUSEY: Zero. I have not seen it on the newsstand once. It’s sold out, sold out, sold out, everywhere. I’ve only had ones that were ordered and brought to me. We had to order a box of them. Everyone’s telling me they’re absolutely impossible to find.

POSTMEDIA: So if you ordered them, how many do you have?

ROUSEY: I didn’t order them. The Showtime people ordered them and had them brought to my door so they could film my reaction or something. I don’t know how many are left in the box because everyone keeps bugging me for them. I kind of like, ‘Come on, man. I need to save these for something.’ I think people sneak into my room and steal them while I’m out (laughs).

POSTMEDIA: Who’s the coolest person in your cellphone that you could just dial up right now?

ROUSEY: I’m still pretty shocked that I have four of Dana White’s five numbers in my phone. Every time I see my phone and there’s a text message or a phone call and it’s from him, I’m having a mini panic attack. ‘Is it good? Is it bad? My boss is calling me. Oh my God.’ That’s the one number that when I see creep up, I’m so surprised that I actually have a name attached to that number, and I can hit him up. But I never do because I scared to death of it (laughs).

POSTMEDIA: You’ve appeared on Oprah’s show. You recently appeared on Conan’s show. Which of the two would be more interesting to go out for dinner and drinks with?

ROUSEY: Probably Conan. Oprah kind of has this vibe like she’s this really friendly, cool grandmother that’ll make you peach cobbler. Conan gave me this vibe where, OK, this guy’s going to find some very interesting ways to hit on me all night (laughs).

POSTMEDIA: What idiot’s guide do you desperately need?

ROUSEY: I did buy the idiot’s guide to bartending when I first started bartending but now I’m good at it, so it doesn’t really apply. I would really like to speak Spanish. Everyone else in my family speaks Spanish except for me.

POSTMEDIA: Most random place that someone recognized you?

ROUSEY: Um, when I was at the grocery store buying tampons (laughs). Someone asked for an autograph. They’re like, ‘Hey Rhonda! What’s up?’ I was like, ‘Heyyyyy. I guess you know a lot about me.’ (laughs) That was one of those times that was really awkward. ‘Not a good time.’

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